Beginnings and Betrayals
by Ravenlink
Summary: Discontinued. See my Bio for details! Uncliched Cho. Threats of Death-Eater attacks loom on the horizon, at the wrong time for every reason; it's time for Harry to start leading the wizarding world. H/C, R/Hr, and others.
1. Can't concentrate without her

A/N: Oaky, here's the second part of "What Comes After". You can definitely read this without reading the first part, but you might want to read that all the same. So here it is, tell me what you think!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters is this fic, or anything of the HP series. For the whole fic. All of it.  
  
  
  
"Marco."  
  
"Polo."  
  
"Marco."  
  
"Shuddup!"  
  
"Polo."  
  
"Would you guys can it?!"  
  
"We should say something different. Like 'Fred'," George suggested.  
  
"And 'George'!" Fred shot right back  
  
"Or nothing!" Harry yelled.  
  
"Fred."  
  
"George."  
  
"Agh!" Harry ran up the steps.  
  
"What's up with him?" Fred asked.  
  
"Trouble with potions work. Snape's coming down harder than usual on the gryphs, and the stuff is just way too complicated," George replied.  
  
"And he's constantly thinking about the ever-so-lovely Cho," Ron piped up.  
  
"Well, besides that. He's always thinking about her, that's a given," George elaborated.  
  
"Who's lovely?" Hermione came down from her dormitory.  
  
"You, who else?" Ron smiled.  
  
"And the ever so sexy Neville," Fred said loudly.  
  
"Yes, that boy's got the looks we haven't," George said glumly.  
  
"Er, what?" Neville implored from his side of the room.  
  
"Nothing, nothing, we're just at a hexy level in charms," Fred answered.  
  
"We're going to the library. Fred," George called.  
  
"George," the answer came. They continued all the way down the hallway.  
  
Meanwhile, Harry was staring at a picture of Cho Chang from the quidditch ball at the beginning of the year. Of course, it was a magical picture, and Cho was waving and smiling. Harry missed Cho. He hadn't seen her for two weeks now, he had been so busy with things, and he hadn't seen her in the hallways or at meals. He was pretty sure it had something to do with Dumbledore making the prefects work extra hard, with all the suspicions that Voldemort was preparing to strike.  
  
There was a tapping on the dormitory window, and Harry put the picture away. He went over to the window, and saw that Hedwig was there, with a letter. He opened the window, got the letter, and quickly opened it.  
  
Hello Harry,  
  
That dream sounds very interesting; did you see any sign of that scum Wormtail in it? I'm not sure exactly what a Garo is, or the Elcrys. I know they are both connected by an old legend, and it has something to do with the end of the world (doesn't everything?). I'll try and get to someplace that will have more information, but until then, BE CAREFUL. That monster you mentioned is something I have had trouble with, Voldemort uses them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this one in particular was his servant. I think the girl you mentioned sounds nice, why not ask her to a nice place for dinner or something? Oh, I suppose you can't, what with that nonce Voldemort running around.  
  
Stay Healthy,  
  
Sirius  
  
  
  
So Sirius was going to help him in whatever way. That was good. At least some of his life was in order. He let Hedwig out. Back to studying…  
  
If boomslang skin is mixed with elfpurn leaves, it yields… …  
  
That was enough. Harry got up and went back down to the common room.  
  
"…no, you look beautiful!"  
  
"No, you look beautiful!"  
  
"No, YOU look beautiful," Ron and Hermione complimented each other, each one nudging the other whenever they talked.  
  
"Would you two just get a room?! Or at least follow me, please!"  
  
"Okay Harry," they replied in unison.  
  
"Where are we going?" Ron asked.  
  
"Out." Harry's friends asked no more questions. They got on either side of him. That was strange, Harry thought, that they would be separated by such a great distance during their waking hours. He had no idea where they were going, but he finally found himself outside of Hagrid's hut. He knocked on the door. Booming footsteps resounded inside, and when he door opened, Hagrid's face changed to one of pleasant surprise.  
  
"Harry, I thought I'd never see yeh again, it's been a while since ye've visited!"  
  
"I know. I'm sorry, it's just that I've been really busy lately, but I decided I could at least make time to visit an old friend," Harry said.  
  
"Thank-yeh, Harry. Why don't yeh come in?" Hagrid invited in the three friends. They walked in, and sat around the table in the back. Fang was happy to see people that he knew, and made sure they all smelled okay.  
  
"So what've yeh been up to, Harry?" Hagrid asked. Harry told him what had been going on, as the giant went about making some tea. As Harry talked about the encounter with the strange creature, Hagrid became more engaged in the conversation. It was something he knew about.  
  
"That'd be a Holkomun, Harry. Nasty creatures, they are. They use dark arts, an' You-know-who's been known ter use 'em from time ter time," Hagrid informed Harry. Making a mental note of what the creature was called, Harry moved on with his narrative. As he neared the end, Hermione interrupted  
  
"Harry, we have to do those inspections with the fourth year dormitories today. We gotta go."  
  
"Oh. Yeah. That's right. Hmm, I'm sorry Hagrid, but I gotta go now. It was nice talking to you again."  
  
"Dun' mention it, Harry. It was nice ter see yeh again."  
  
Harry said good-bye, then went with his two friends back to the dormitory. As he had been telling Hagrid about what he had been up to lately, he realized how much he'd actually been doing. He was surprised that he hadn't collapsed into a nervous wreck yet. He thought that that might have something to with the fact that he didn't have as much to think or worry about when it came to family, since he really had none that cared. He missed his mom and dad. It wasn't like he had really known them, but he wished so much that they took care of him, instead of the ill-tempered Dursleys. If he thought about it, Sirius Black was his 'father', Ron was his 'brother', Hermione was his 'sister', and Dumbledore fell into the 'grandfather' category. He had no mother. Great. Cho fit in somewhere, he knew, but he wasn't sure at all where that was…  
  
"Harry, let's get to work. Just come back here when you're done," Hermione told Harry. He had made his way through the common room. He looked around, then went up to the fourth year dormitory. It was mostly clean, and there were no holes in the wall. That was good. He checked to make sure all the windows were in ship shape, then turned around and saw Colin Creevey's photo collection floating next to the wall. They were all black and white. He could have pinned them in and got the same look, but that wouldn't have been any fun. Harry looked closer, expecting to see many pictures of himself. What he saw completely surprised him. There were hardly any pictures of him at all, or anyone else. They were almost all of one person… 


	2. Colin's Pictures

That was strange, considering that Colin took pictures of practically everything. Why so many pictures of Ginny Weasley? Pictures of her studying, thinking, walking, sitting, or almost any other pose. He kept looking, and he realized that Ginny was growing up; it was natural that other boys would notice her. He supposed she was like Ron and Hermione's daughter, and Fred and George were his uncles…or other brothers? What a messed up family… he saw some other pictures, including one of Cho sitting out in the courtyard. He wasn't surprised; the Ravenclaw was very photogenic, and no one would want to miss a photo opportunity.  
  
Unlike most other pictures in the wizard world, these pictures did not move. Colin was obviously more interested in his skill with the camera than his cleverness with magic. Harry left the dormitory, and reported to Hermione that he had found nothing wrong. He saw Colin sitting on a chair, looking at a muggle photography magazine. Some things just weren't the real deal in the world of magic…  
  
"Hey Colin, I saw your collection of photos in your room. They're really good," Harry said.  
  
Colin was obviously surprised that Harry was complimenting him. "Th-th- thank-you, Harry."  
  
"I saw one that I was wondering if you had any copies of, the one with Cho Chang in it?"  
  
"Oh, s-sure. I keep extras of all of them."  
  
"Alright. Do suppose I could have one?"  
  
"Sure, h-hang on a s-second," Colin spit out, then ran up to his dormitory. He came back down with a photo in his hands, and handed it to Harry.  
  
"A sickle for your troubles," Harry tossed a sickle to Colin, who couldn't quite stutter out a thank-you. When Harry was gone and he'd caught his breath, he said to himself, "He likes my work…"  
  
Harry put the new picture of Cho next to the one from the quidditch ball, then picked up his book for potions, studying with some new inspiration.  
  
"" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""  
  
Ron ran up to his dormitory an hour later looking for Harry.  
  
"Harry, look at this! It's a flyer for the European Quidditch Tour! It says that eleven players will be chosen to compete, with the extra four in to take care of exhausted quidditch players who need out for a round or so. Is that great or what?!"  
  
"What, that the flyer is on recycled paper?"  
  
Ron gave Harry a puzzled look.  
  
"Never mind, it's Muggle stuff."  
  
"Oh. Right. Well, I'm going to be practicing extra hard for this. I could be an extra. We have to try out on Cleansweeps, is that stupid or what?"  
  
"What, that they want people based on skill?"  
  
Ron gave Harry another puzzled look. "You don't make any sense Harry," Ron said, then left.  
  
"" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""  
  
Harry surprised Hermione that day and led younger students to the great hall for dinner. He took a seat next to her and Neville, but before she could praise him, or he could start eating, Dumbledore stood up, and called the room to order.  
  
"Students, as I'm sure you've heard by now, try-outs for the Hogwarts Quidditch team will be held in the near future. Realize, though, that this team will not go on the tour until spring has come, we only wanted to form the team as soon as possible. It has come to my attention that some students have come to believe that there is going to be a yule ball. Sadly, I must inform you that these assumptions are incorrect, as such an event is reserved for only when there is a triwizards tournament. Take heart, if you all choose to be good students, I'm sure another ball at the end of the year will be in order. Meanwhile, you have the interhouse quidditch championship and Halloween to entertain you. Please remember that the prefects that have been appointed are there to give you a safer time at Hogwarts, so pay attention to them. I will see you all at the Ravenclaw vs. hufflepuff match tomorrow!" with that, the sage wizard sat down, amongst the uproar of students reminded of the event tomorrow.  
  
Harry stared at his plate for several minutes. He wondered if he would see Cho before the match. He looked at the Ravenclaw table, and as usual, didn't see Cho. Prefects were gone from every table, but why was it always Cho from Ravenclaw? He hung his head in defeat. Then he realized how stupid he was. The whole time, he could have asked Petra how he could talk to Cho! Why he had't thought of it before, he didn't know. He filled his plate with new resolve, and wolfed down his dinner. He watched petra keenly, and as soon as she stood up, Harry excused himself. He followed her into the hallway, then called her name.  
  
"Petra!"  
  
"Huh? Oh, Harry. Hi," She responded quietly.  
  
"Hey, where's your sister been? I haven't seen her at all lately."  
  
"Oh, just busy with prefect stuff. She's kind of like 'head prefect' in Ravenclaw, so she's been working extra hard lately, just organizing things, because Dumbledore's wanted us all to be extra cautious. She's been having Penny bring her food from meals, because she stays behind to watch the dormitories, since everyone else is gone."  
  
"Do you think I could come up and say hi?"  
  
"Sure, no problem."  
  
Harry followed Petra up to the Ravenclaw common room door, another portrait.  
  
"Slytherin est un petit lapin vesse."  
  
"That's kinda long."  
  
"So?"  
  
Harry shrugged.  
  
The door opened, and Petra led the way in. The common room was decorated in turn-of-the-century Victorian furniture. The lights were brighter than Gryffindor's room, and all the tables were glossy and polished. It had a very clean and organized look about it. The plastered white walls had strategically placed decorations, the most prominent of which was the Ravenclaw coat of arms.  
  
"Cho? Someone's here to see you," Petra called out.  
  
Footsteps sounded from one of the upper levels, and Cho came down a flight of steps.  
  
"Hi Harry!" a smile spread over Cho's face.  
  
"Hey Cho. I haven't seen you for along time, so Petra said I could come up here."  
  
"I know, Prefect duties have gotten really crazy lately. I've missed you too," Cho said, and gave Harry a hug.  
  
"So what have you been busy with?"  
  
"Well, aside from classes and quidditch, I've had to constantly reorganize our prefects. I want to have them ready in case something bad happens. Since everyone is gone at meals, that's the time I can go around and make sure everything is in order, and I put up charms for all sorts of different things up too. I should be able to wrap it all up by next week, then I can have other prefects do the checking. What have you been doing?"  
  
"Well, mostly working on potions homework, it seems," Harry made a face of distaste. "But all our prefects have had to be extra cautious, so my duties have been stepped up. Actually, we're still slacking compared to you."  
  
"No, I think I'm just a control freak."  
  
It was strange talking to Cho, because Harry knew what she had confided in him when she thought he was asleep. So he was looking at what she was saying from several different angles.  
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself, there is no such thing as being too careful at a time like this," Harry scolded.  
  
"Hm. Right. So, what are you doing after the game tomorrow? We can catch up on all this stuff then. Besides, some of my Dark Arts homework is killing me, and I know you're pretty good with it," Cho suggested.  
  
"I don't think I'm doing anything. If I am…I'm not anymore. Where should we meet?"  
  
"The Library should be a good place."  
  
"Okay. See you tomorrow, and good luck at your game!" Harry said good-bye.  
  
"Thanks. I'll kick some arse for you," Cho smiled warmly in return. 


	3. Where it leads

A/N: thanks for the review Faraway!  
  
  
  
Harry was very happy he had been able to talk to Cho. In fact, if he knew any good songs, he would have sung them. But he didn't have the greatest memory, so he just went about with a huge grin on his face for the rest of the evening.  
  
While sitting in the common room, talking to Hermione and Ron, Harry caught something he found very amusing. Every few minutes, Neville would look up from his charms homework and glance at Ginny. At he same time, Ginny was paging through a copy of Which Broom?, and would look up from it every few minutes and glance at Neville.  
  
"Ron, does your sister ever talk about Neville?" Harry asked.  
  
"Actually, she talks about him often. Often enough to tell me something. Whatever Neville's doing, it's brilliant, because lately he's made lots of new friends."  
  
"He's kind of like our mascot now," Hermione said, "He used to be meek, but now he's more bold. I read something like that about T.J. Atkers, in Hogwarts: A History. He started as a poor student, but now he's famous for writing about Primary Harmonic Dissonance in Advanced Charms; it helps with the theory of QuasiTechnic Photo Transfers in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's my favorite topic…"  
  
Ron and Harry just looked at Hermione, then at each other.  
  
"Don't look at me, you're the smart one," Ron said.  
  
"Don't look at me, you're the one who's supposed to know her better than me!"  
  
"Both of you should know, I always tell you about it."  
  
"I have bad memory."  
  
"I can't remember that, I'm too busy thinking about you!"  
  
"I should Photo-Dissonate both of you."  
  
"You should. I'd know what it is then."  
  
"You wouldn't do that to me, would you, Pumpkin?"  
  
"Did my brother just call someone pumpkin?" Fred entered, with George right behind him.  
  
"Oh sweetums, don't discombobulate me." George mocked Ron.  
  
"Yes, but for calling me that, he sure doesn't listen," Hermione rolled her eyes and headed off for her dormitory.  
  
"Oi, Neville, are you looking at Ginny again?"  
  
"No Fred, I'm looking at you."  
  
"I'm flattered, Neville."  
  
"Does anyone know how to do this Transfiguration homework?" George called out.  
  
"I do," Alicia Spinnet said.  
  
"Where's Katie?" Fred asked everyone in the room.  
  
"Right here," She came down from the seventh year girls' dormitory, "Where were you yesterday?" she said, shoving him into a chair.  
  
"What would this common room be like without Fred and George?" Harry asked no one in particular.  
  
"It'd be awful!" George answered, "Quidditch game tomorrow, chaps. Until then, your local Weasley twins will be working! Fred, get yourself out of trouble and let's get going! We have to do some developing for the company!"  
  
"Right. Going to have to continue this talk later, Katie. Some serious work here, y'know!" He sprung off to the dormitory before she could reprimand him anymore. The common room quieted down again.  
  
"Looks like you better look up Photo-Dissonation before you talk to Hermione again," Harry advised Ron  
  
"And cut back on the cute names when she's serious," Neville added.  
  
Ron just hung his head back.  
  
"" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""  
  
Harry looked through the index of Hogwarts: A History that night for the words Garo, Elcrys, and Flamsha. Sirius had corrected his spelling of the first two after Harry had misspelled them in the first letter he'd sent. The third one was easy enough. If Sirius was looking for information, he was putting himself at risk, and that was a bad thing. Besides that, Harry had a sneaking suspicion that not only Cornelius Fudge was after Sirius, but that Voldemort wanted him dead for some reason as well. It was strange, really. Sometimes the strongest allies seemed to be the worst enemies.  
  
"" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""  
  
Harry was eager the next day to see the quidditch match. Not only to see Cho play, but also to see how the other teams were. Until it was time to head out to the pitch, all the prefects combed the common room, all the staircases, and the area around the portrait hallway, and casted all kinds of protective charms, and magical alarms that would go off if dark magic was used. All in all, Harry felt like the Gryffindors could take on the dark army on their own if they had to after all the charms were set up.  
  
Harry and Ron had the best seats in the Gryffindor section by eleven o'clock, both with omnioculars in their hands. Hermione was sitting next to Ron, and Fred and George were careful to sit somewhere else, since Ron told them to keep away after the incident last night.  
  
Ron looked in his omnioculars, and saw that there was a recording from the last game, from when Harry had made his daring catch of the snitch. Seamus had done a pretty good job of catching the whole sequence.  
  
"Harry, look at this," he said, handing the omnioculars to Harry.  
  
"That looks a lot different then I thought it would," Harry raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Today, we have Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff, a match that will keep you on the edge of your seats, since it's been over a year since they've faced off," Lee Jordan's voice caught the attention of the he crowd. "Captain of the Hufflepuff team this season is seventh year Ian Parker, whose position is chaser…" everyone cheered as the captain of Hufflepuff flew onto the field, and the rest of his team was announced.  
  
"And now for the captain of the Ravenclaw team, sixth year Cho Chang, who plays as seeker…" Harry watched as she flew onto the field, and then replayed it. All the players assembled at the center of the pitch, and Madame Hooch came into the middle of the ring they formed. Harry knew the talk they were getting; make a clean game, play nice- yeah right.  
  
The snitch and bludgers were released. The quaffle was thrown up into the air, and the whistle shrieked. There was a mad dash as the six chasers went for the ball, with a Hufflepuff managing to grab it. She flew up and towards the Ravenclaw goal, but had to drop the ball to avoid being smashed by a bludger. A Ravenclaw was quick to take the quaffle and dash to the other side. Harry looked for Cho, but he couldn't see her. He looked higher, and saw her about 100 feet above the game. He didn't know why she was so high up; what was she doing? His attention was turned away as a goal was scored by the Ravenclaws, announced by Lee, who was doing quite well about not going off topic this game. McGonagall had only yelled at him twice so far. It was probably because there were no Slytherins to insult…  
  
About twenty minutes into the game, with the Hufflepuffs winning 70 to 40, Harry saw Cho start to descend, towards her side of the field. The other seeker saw her, and dashed in the same direction. But as she passed under Cho, the Ravenclaw seeker turned upside down in her dive and curved in the other direction. The Hufflepuff was now going in the opposite direction of where Cho had sighted the snitch. By time she realized that Cho wasn't following her, Cho was in hot pursuit of the fleeing snitch, which Harry could see quite clearly now through his omnioculars. The Hufflepuff turned and went as quickly as she could to where Cho was. It was almost completely hopeless. If she'd had a Firebolt with a broomring, maybe, but she didn't. Cho caught the snitch right as the Hufflepuff got on her tail. The Ravenclaws cheered and yelled, the Gyfindors cheered, Hufflepuffs halfheartedly applauded, and a few Slytherins (the ones who had any speck of school spirit and kindness) cheered.  
  
Harry worked his way down to the locker rooms. He was very excited to go with Cho to the Library. 


End file.
